Hello!

After our exciting time in Las Vegas, we headed to the outskirts of the desert city to pick up our campervan, or "RV". After the campervans we had in Australia and New Zealand, we were slightly unnerved by the size of the vehicle they expected us to drive halfway across the country. At 23 feet long, 9 feet wide and 13 feet high, our campervan resembles more a lorry than the converted hi-top vans we have been used to. Nevertheless, we have largely got used to it now and on the spacious American roads it is not too difficult to handle with its comfortable armchair seats, automatic gearbox and cruise contol. In fact all we really have to do most of the time is steer, and there isnt even much requirement for that on the seemingly endless stretches of American highway. Despite this however, Olivia has only been brave enough to manage 10 minutes behind the wheel on a fairly safe, deserted bit of road, preferring the navigational role of co-captain and leaving the driving to Simon.

After leaving Las Vegas we headed east and before long came to the Hoover Dam, just inside the Arizona border. Somehow, as we were driving over the dam, we managed to get ourselves in the middle of a convoy of supercars. This, no doubt, led to a very frustrated person in the Bentley behind us as he had to watch his mates in the Ferrari and Lamborghini race off while he was stuck behind two plonkers in a camper-lorry. The dam itself was vast and impressive and we took a short break there before continuing on our way.

As we travelled east on Route 66 in Arizona we were shocked to discover how cold it can get at this time of year. We stopped at a visitor information center where we discovered it regularly drops quite a bit below freezing at night time. This was bad news for us as our campervan had not been "winterised" and was therefore unsuitable for sub-zero temperatures as the water tanks on board would freeze, causing considerable damage. Our fears were realised when we arrived in the small town of Williams, where we planned to stay the night, to find it covered in snow. Luckily, however, we made it through the night unscathed after disconnecting our water and cranking the heating up high. Williams itself is a very interesting place that we very much enjoyed. It is a real wild west town where locals still walk around in cowboy hats, leather boots and sometimes even spurrs. There are a number of diners left over from the Route 66 glory days and we decided to have dinner in one that boasted "world famous BBQ" and an old red car on the roof. The beef ribs we had were enormous, but so tasty we couldn't not finish them all. In the morning we went to see a "shootout", which is held every week on the streets of Williams and involves cowboys facing off over some trivial matter before settling their difference with pistols. This was a fun start to the day and by the time it was over we were confident that any ice on the roads would have melted and so headed north to the Grand Canyon.

The Grand Canyon is truly a remarkable sight. It is so unfathomably large in all directions that it is hard to appreciate fully even when you are there. We spent about an hour walking along the south rim, getting as close to the edge as we dared in order to try and peer down. On the drive back from the Grand Canyon to the Interstate, we passed landscape even more frozen than Williams. Just north of Flagstaff we spotted people making snowmen and adverts for cross country skiing! Despite this it didn't seem at all that cold during the day.

The aptly named Meteor Crater was our next stop. In the absolute middle of nowhere this consisted of a meteor crater, a petrol station and, luckily for us, a campsite. Created 50,000 years ago, the crater is strikingly large and immaculatlely preserved. It seems also to be the only feature for miles in an otherwise completlely flat desert. The views from the rim were excellent, although the vantage points were also extremely blustery!

Before we left Arizona for New Mexico, we visited the Petrified Forest National Park. In this large expanse of wildnerness there exists an abundance of fossils ranging from dinosaur bones to fossilized trees. The multi-coloured and weirdly shaped rock formations were intriguing and at times seemed other worldly as the scenary at one point became completely red.

As we passed into New Mexico we stopped briefly at a number of little towns such as Grants and Gallup before we eventually arrived in Albuqurque. In Albuquerque, we explored the old town and Olivia enjoyed a very successful morning in the shops. After lunch we headed to the foothills of the Sandia Mountains just east of the city. Here, we went hiking through rattlesnake country and had a great time traversing streams, boulders and canyons.

We then headed north up the turquoise trail to arty Santa Fe, the capital of New Mexico. As we visited at a weekend, there were markets and street vendors selling their interesting wares all around the city centre. We also enjoyed some excellent New Mexican cuisine while in the area. One dish that sticks in the mind is Simon's huge battered deep fried chilli stuffed with cheese and more chilli. It was certainly not for the faint hearted! As we were leaving Santa Fe we asked a woman at our campsite if there was a supermarket nearby. She unwisely decided to demonstrate her writing ability and wrote down "ya need to turn rite at the lites"...

Our next big stop was the town of Roswell, infamous for the alleged nearby UFO crash and cover up in 1947. As you would expect, the town is packed with alien related memorabilia and is quite a fun little place. We visited the UFO museum which told the story of the 1947 event through official documents, witness statements, photos and theories. We both found it very interesting although we remain rather sceptical of an actual alien crash.

The last place we stayed in New Mexico was Brantley Lakes State Park. A warm, wonderfully open, isolated place situated near scenic lakes. A perfect place to relax and drink our recently purchased Roswell Alien Amber Ale.